Kuwait Health Assurance Company (KHAC) on Tuesday signed a KD162 million deal with the China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) to build two hospitals with a 600-bed capacity, KHAC said. The hospitals will serve insurance-paying expatriates who account for some 70 percent of Kuwait's 4.4 million population.

KHAC, which was set up by the government in 2014 in partnership with the private sector, aims to provide health care services to expatriates separate from those provided by the government to Kuwaitis.

Chief Executive Ahmed al-Saleh, who signed the deal in Kuwait city with a senior MCC official, said the contracting company would design, build, equip and maintain the two hospitals, which will be located in al-Jahra and al-Ahmadi districts.

Saleh said the projects are part of the development plan approved by the Kuwaiti cabinet in 2010, which calls for "providing the highest level of healthcare".

The two hospitals are expected to be completed within 36 months and will open by the end of 2019, he said. In 2013, Kuwaiti investment firm Arabi Group Holding Co won a bid to buy a 26 percent stake in KHAC which was auctioned by the country's sovereign wealth fund.